1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vending machines adapted for deployment at self-service car washes that dispense a plurality of customer-selected services or commodities, such as vacuum suction, fragrances, cleaning solutions such as spot remover and other items. More particularly, this invention relates to vending machines that output different volumes or quantities of a selected commodity in response to a preselected uniform input price.
2. Description of the Related Art
The self-service car wash industry continually improves the quality and quantity of products and services that are offered to customers. Products such as vehicle waxes, detergents, cleaners and related items are commonly sold from self-service “coin-operated” vending machines of numerous available sizes, configurations and shapes. Typically, these machines are mounted upon custom-designed concrete “islands” that are usually erected close to the washing bays within illuminated, high visibility areas. (As used herein the term “coin-operated” refers to self service vending machines that accept coins, credit cards, currency, tokens, or combinations thereof.)
Besides offering the consumer several cleaning options related to the vehicle exterior, typical self-service car wash installations offer a variety of products and choices relating to the vehicle interior. For example, numerous coin-operated suction-applying vacuuming systems exist. Various carpet cleaning and spot removal products are available for more vigorous interior cleaning. Various towels, dashboard cleaning solutions or preparations, various waxes, deodorants, and other diverse automotive items are typically stocked by well-equipped vending installation. Coin-operated vending machines that dispense fragrances and apply them to the vehicle interior are becoming relatively common. They are often deployed in convenience stores and other locations apart from car wash installations.
Most commodities or products are vended at different prices and different rates. Different products or services are normally priced differently as their cost is usually different. During a vend, varying commodities or products will be outputted at different rates or pressures, and for different times. Given this prior industry practice, typical vending machine display a somewhat complex menu offering different products or services at different prices which are vended for different time intervals. In some cases consumers can be confused.
Not only are different products or services available from modem vending machines, but different volumes or rates of application are possible for given items. For example, a vending machine sold under the trademark SELECT-A-VAC by the instant assignee, Fragramatics Mfg. Co, Inc of Pine Bluff Arkansas, provides suctioning vacuum at different customer-selectable rates. Thus, the customer can select a first pressure for normal cleaning and a higher suction pressure for more demanding cleaning applications. Mechanically, the machine operates a single motor for normal vacuum, and at least one additional suction motor for heavy duty vacuuming. Formerly the machine outputted vacuum at a first pressure for a displayed price (i.e., approximately fifty cents to over a dollar) for a given time period of approximately three to four minutes. Higher pressure vacuuming was offered at a greater price for a shorter period of time. Pricing details concerning these options are typically displayed on the external machine menu, which is highly visible to the customer.
It became apparent that, in the middle of a vend, customers desired to change selections from the originally selected commodity or service to another offered by the menu. In other words, after inputting a given amount of money into a vending machine and starting the cleaning process, customers often wished to select an alternative product or service without first depleting their credit from the initially selected vend and then re-inserting coins or currency. And, while vacuuming, some customers wished to change from low pressure suction to high pressure suction before the money originally deposited in the machine was depleted.
At the time the above describe phenomena was recognized, a common vending machine design practice was to visually display the amount of remaining time to the customer during a selected vend interval. For example, a simple computerized timer would respond to the customer's inputted cash amount, recognize the selected product or commodity, compare the pricing parameters for the latter with the cash value that was deposited, and display and decrement the time that a customer's desired vend was to be active. Without modifications to the computer timer circuitry and software, it would not be practicable to allow switching between different products or services vended at different rates and times within the middle of a vend, since proper computation and display of the remaining time for the modified vend would be problematical.
At least in part in response to the above-described vending machine display considerations, the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,681, issued Dec. 6, 1994, was developed. Vending machines using the timers and technique described in this patent can respond and react to the selection of various different vending commodities or services during the vending process by recalculating an amount of time that remains for the vend that is proportional to the decremented amount of money originally inputted into the machine. A modified timing display is derived by comparing the remaining amount of customer credit to the timing and pricing parameters associated with the newly selected commodity or service. The newly calculated amount of customer vend time is then displayed.
The circuitry described in the above patent initially detects the customer selection of a first item, which is offered for a given period of time for a first predetermined amount of time and detects the amount of money the customer deposited. Then a first period of time is computed and displayed, which indicates how long the first item will be outputted. While the initially selected vend progresses, the customer selection of a second vending service or commodity is detected. The second vending commodity or service is vended as a function, at least in part, of a second predetermined amount of time based upon the decremented value of money remaining after vending of the first item, and the timing and pricing parameters associated with the secondly chosen item to be vended. The second period of time during which the secondly-chosen commodity can be provided is calculated and automatically displayed.
For example, in a 1999 model SELECT-A-VAC™ vending machine developed and manufactured by Fragramatics Mfg. Co. Inc., the instant assignee, the aforementioned timer facilitated a series of machine that offered only two selections: fragrance and vacuum; spot-remover and vacuum; and, high and low speed vacuum. Pricing for a fragrance/vacuum machine could be as follows:
(a) Vacuum motor applied suction for four minutes for a price of Seventy Five Cents ($0.75); or,
(b) Spray-applied fragrance for One Dollar ($1.00) for forty seconds, wherein approximately twelve (12) ml. of liquid fragrance of a customer-selected scent was dispensed.
An alternative machine offered the following:
(a) Vacuum motor applied suction for four minutes for a price of Seventy Five Cents ($0.75); or,
(b) Foaming brush applied spot remover for One Dollar and a half ($1.50) for three minutes.
An alterative embodiment of the earlier machine offered twin vacuum selections:
(a) Low suction with a pair of vacuum motors for four minutes for a price of Seventy Five Cents ($0.75); or,
(b) High suction from three vacuum motors provided for three minutes at a price of One Dollar ($1.00).
Former Fragramatics' machines using timers built according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,681 suffered from two relatively recently-recognized disadvantages. First, the pricing schedule displayed on the menu is potentially confusing, as can be realized from the above machine offerings. Since the selected commodities have different physical forms, vendor costs, and parameters, the usual practice has been to offer them at different prices, and there is an argument that customers expect this. However, we have determined that a customer would rather be faced with a unitary pricing schedule. It is desirable that a fixed amount of money should provide the customer with a certain portion of any vend selection. In other words, by way of example, for One Dollar, the customer should have the option of receiving a certain volume or portion of any of the services or commodities offered by the machine. The internal computer circuitry can take care of the accounting differences. Thus unitary pricing is a design goal.
Secondly, metering of vending machine output has previously been accomplished by calculating and displaying the time remaining to a customer during a given vend. As mentioned, the timer described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,681 continuously calculates and displays the remaining “absolute time” associated with a given vend. This occurs while enabling the customer to switch between different vend selections after initially activating the vending process. As a result of customer and product study and evaluation it has been determined that the digital display and recalculation of remaining time associated with a vend does not significantly contribute to customer satisfaction. It is recognized that self service car wash customers require some form of product metering to effectively manage the cleaning process, the digital display of the absolute time remaining is not as effective as the analog display of the relative amount of selected product to be vended. In other words, it is unnecessarily confusing to customers to compute the amount of time remaining in a vend, whether prorated or otherwise. For example, the digital display showing the remaining time is difficult to see while, for example, a customer is kneeling within his or her automobile and vacuuming. Secondly, it is not advantageous or desirable to display the absolute amount of time remaining in the vend; recently we have discovered that it is more effective to display the relative amount of a selected commodity that remains, rather than an indication of time.
Thus, it is desirable to provide unitized pricing and to display the relative amount of product remaining independent of time. For example, we have found it desirable to provide a menu of options as follows:
(a) Low suction with a single vacuum motor four minutes for a price of One Dollar ($1.00);
(b) High suction by running more than one vacuum motor for three minutes at a price of One Dollar ($1.00); and/or,
(c) Spray-applied fragrance for approximately forty seconds maximum, wherein approximately twelve (12) ml. of liquid fragrance is dispensed, for a price of One Dollar ($1.00).
While providing these options, and while enabling the customer to switch between them at any time while credit remains, it is desired to display an indication of the relative amount of selected product remaining at any point in time. The display should be analog so it is highly visible from a distance.